Filmspeed

Orange County rock trio Filmspeed lets us borrow their frontman Craig Broomba to sit in comfy chairs at Viento Y Agua in Long Beach, CA to discuss the anniversary of their album Hexidecimal, interpersonal connections between fans and artists, and the huge fan support that came from the hugely popular “Africa” cover.

Filmspeed is comprised of:

Craig Broomba – lead vocals and guitar

Nick Stout – bass and backing vocals

Oliver Dobrian – drums and backing vocals

You’re coming up on the one year anniversary of your album Hexadecimal. For those who have not yet discovered its awesomeness, would you care to give us a little insight as to what expect from the album when they finally get a chance to listen to it?

Craig Broomba: Yeah! I mean, time flies for sure. This album really is a ‘true album.’ Right now it’s a singles game out there, and there’s a time and place for that, but we already had plenty of those and had the chance to put them on this record. This record is an album for an album’s sake where you can hit ‘play’ and just let it go. It’s non-stop sound, so even if the song is done there’s something that’s going to glue it all together. If you want to set it and forget it for a long drive, this would be the one. If you’re looking to sink into a story line and just get lost in the sound imagery, that’s what we did. It’s eleven tracks spanning through all sorts of different types of songs. Some fast, some slow, some happy, some sad, it’s kind of everywhere.

A good mix of emotions.

Craig: Oh yeah. A lot for sure. The songs were written in a four-year process. We unloaded a bunch of songs with the drummer we were working with at the time, and we were planning on doing an EP breaking it down to five songs. And then when we were deciding when to put it out, who to put it out through, what we were going to do with it, we ended up having different priorities and doing different things, so he left. We re-grouped, found a new drummer, and took the time to get the bearings back, which is something that you really have to when you’re a three-piece like us. Once you lose 33% of the outfit, you really have to take the time to work on it. So we worked on getting comfortable live and figuring out our style, but then Nick’s dad and my mom both passed away within a 4-6 month period. So yeah, there was a little bit of hiatus because of all that.

An understandable hiatus.

Craig: Yeah. We all really needed to take a time out to take care of the personal stuff. Oliver was in the band for less than a year before everything went all topsy-turvy everywhere. But we went back into the studio after everything, and within a few days we had eleven more songs with a total of, like, twenty songs to choose from. We pitched them to all of our close circle of ears and pretty much went ‘Which ones do you like and which ones do you not like?’ They were all demos that we were going to polish up for the album. So depending on which song made the cut, there was a totally different story in each of the combinations because a lot happened within the time frame with which we wrote them.

Lots and lots of things to write about.

Craig: So many things. Too many things. I needed more pieces of music to go along with the stories. *laughs*

And how was the recording process for this album different than your previous work?

Craig: The first time we did a full length, it was passed around between the three people in the band. Our original drummer moved out here from Michigan with us, and he was trying to do the college thing at the same time. He’s an astrophysics professor now so I’m glad all of that worked out for him. *laughs* But yeah, we kind of just passed around the mp3s and built the first Filmspeed record into, not The Postal Service because we didn’t we didn’t buy any postage, *laughs* but we all collaborated remotely and that’s why we called it Satellite Signals. That was the first one. The second one was a pure album session with pre-production and we had a great relationship with a microphone factory out in Pasadena so we did that record with them. We pretty much did all of our sessions at the same microphone factory to get a consistent sound that we already had from the nine songs we had done before. We wrapped up about 30% of it, but the in-betweens and anything that glued it all together came from a great studio in Santa Monica, who we made friends with too. We made friends! *laughs*

Gotta use those relationships!

Craig: It’s wonderful! Because otherwise, we’re making records like how we did the first time around. *laughs*

Hey, you got a good story out of it!

Craig: Yes! It’s still a fun story to tell. *laughs*

And what was your favorite song to write and record?

Craig: It changes all the time. *laughs*

What’s your favorite today? *laughs*

Craig: Well today, if I were to listen to it right now, I wouldn’t. I’ve heard it more times than anyone in the world has heard it because I worked on it. *laughs* Let’s see, today’s a little cloudy and humid so I’m gonna go with “Money Game.” That’s what I’m going with today. It’s got this creepy, swanky feel to it and it’s kind of angst-y but not at the same time. It’s like how I feel about the weather right now. *both laugh*

If you had an infinite amount of money, which song off the album would you choose to do a music video for right now at this very moment in time?

Craig: Hmm. An infinite amount of money. For selfish reasons, I would say “Love Me Like Tomorrow” because that one is about my mom. It would be a way to say ‘What’s up mom? Look at this awesome video!’ because she never had the chance to hear that song. I feel like I would owe her at least that much and I would want to make it a great story about that lady’s battle with cancer. She lasted three years longer than what the doctors gave her, so 250% longer, and every time she would have a doctor’s appointment they would say her attitude and energy and her whole outlook on what’s going on was incredible. We had no idea how she was doing that, but it was amazing and I would want to make the video so much more of an uplifting thing. Cancer blows. We really have to fix that.

It’s the worst way to go.

Craig: It really is the worst and everyone has been hit with it in some way or form. But I’d like for people to be able to understand that life is about right now. It’s not about worrying about what might happen two years later, it’s about today and a little bit about tomorrow. Figure everything else out later.

Yeah. I feel like we tend to always forget that because we get so wrapped up in the things that we think we have to do. And then you ask yourself, ‘But do you really have to?’ Like, do we really need to slave away doing things that we don’t really want to do?

Craig: I don’t think we were meant to work for a living. I think we were meant to live for a living.

That’s why I always say, ‘Life’s too short to not have the cheesecake.’ *both laugh*

Craig: Oh man! That’s beautiful! 100% wisdom! I’m gonna use that one. *laughs* I feel like very often, people are always jilted back when they’re like ‘Hey Craig, how are ya?’ and my typical response is, ‘It’s always a great day to be me. No exceptions.’ And I stole that from Paul Newman. He said once in an interview, “Every day I wake up is a miracle. Anything after that is a bonus.” Dang Paul! That’s heavy! *laughs*

But in a good way! *laughs* And how did you come up with Filmspeed to be your band name? It’s your love for running combined with your love for film, isn’t it? *both laugh*

Craig: You know, as funny as this is, we switched to this name from a pop-punk band name, which was more of a motto than an actual name. *laughs* With this one there was a couple of different reasons. Yeah, we’re movie buffs, but that’s not the only reason that’s simple enough for us to explain. *laughs* So much happens in life, and honestly, my memory banks are shot. Someone was telling me about a concert that I was at, evidently several months ago.

Oh, that’s too long ago to remember. I barely remember what I have for breakfast during the week. *both laugh*

Craig: Right?! But it was Green Day at the Rose Bowl, and I was arguing about whether it was at the Hollywood Bowl. *laughs* They were like, ‘But you were there!’ and I was like, ‘I was???’ So clearly my memory banks are shot. But memory is a funny thing because it only comes in in bits and pieces. So with the term ‘film speed,’ it’s all about how the more things that happen to you then the less of those tiny details you’re going to have, like little cut scenes from a movie. With your memory banks, you’re always living at ‘film speed,’ like, the speed of a film where it’s all chopped up into a documentary about you. Like, there’s no way you’re ever going to be able to get those nuances like what the top of my tea looked like. I’m not going to remember that, there’s no way! *laughs* I’m just going to remember the highlights like that it tasted good and being here with you in this wonderful spot!

Craig: Then that means it’s a great chair! But if your life was a movie, would the chair make the cut?

That is true. *laughs* The things we think about on a somewhat early morning. *both laugh*

Craig: Well, you don’t have to. *laughs*

You’re right! We don’t have to do anything! *laughs* That is the conclusion that we came up with earlier.

Craig: We’ve solved it all actually! *laughs*

Success! *both laugh* So living in L.A. means there is an overabundance of music in every possible genre you can imagine. Do you feel like there is some kind of unpublicized competition between the L.A. music scene and even just in the rock scene in general?

Craig: Oh man. I have so many thoughts, so many that I’m trying to keep it easy to follow. *laughs* Competition, yes, 100%, every time, everywhere, all the time. This move was on purpose, I knew what I was getting into, it’s the me first area of the ‘me first’ state of the ‘me first’ country of the only planet in the universe evidently, right? So it understandably bleeds into the local music industry, it almost has to, especially when music is completely over-saturated out here. Like, why would anyone go to a show when they can just check it out online, right? You have attendance for shows just way way way down because it’s much easier to do Hulu and Netflix. I’m not going to lie, I love it, it’s great, it’s a wonderful thing! *laughs* But here, there’s just so many bands and so much competition that most people forget that it has to be a community and it has to be an event. It has to be both of those things because you can’t just book a Tuesday somewhere because you know the bar owner and get your fifteen friends that you’ve known through college and do that for 5-10 years. It’s just not going to work that way. You have to develop networks and relationships, make friends, do favors for people that don’t give two shys about you, and just build a good reputation while having these events because you love live music. I mean, that’s what we’re all doing. Go out to the shows and find people that you want to make shows with, don’t just book yourself, put together a whole night of music that everyone is going to like, and from there you can have your own scene. Or it’ll become a scene as opposed to what I’ve seen too often which is cliques of friends that just kind of run a little circuit of their own. It’s actually quite unfortunate, but the good thing about that is that on any given night you can find a great show on a Tuesday. *both laugh* I’m just going to keep reaching out people and putting shows together!

Yeah! All the shows!

Craig: All of the shows all the time! *laughs*

How important do you think it is to support other local artists and local events as well?

Craig: Well I mean, if I’m not making an attempt to go to their show then they’re not going to come to my show and then no one ever goes to shows. *laughs* It’s a simple chain rule, you have to support and be there because then they’ll be there for you. We’re doing our best to make events that people would actually want to go to. It feels a lot better to move around a room filled with hundreds of people as opposed to tens of people. Live music and live entertainment and live events, that’s where energy lives. That’s what connects you to a room and that’s what connects you to a moment. You don’t get the same experience watching Muse at The Palladium on YouTube, it’s just not the same emotion. You get to admire what they’re doing, but you get to see them in their craft that they’ve worked very hard to put together. You get to see all the money they put in for people to bring the drones down from the ceiling and people doing the lighting cues, but you don’t get the feeling and the adrenaline from the harmonious noise of a live audience unless you’re there.

And they’re fantastic live!

Craig: Oh they’re absolutely one of the best live bands like ever. It’s painful that we may never be at the level they are because they’re just that good. Now that was an unintentional plug to go out and see them live. *both laugh*

I saw them at the KROQ Weenie Roast a few years back and I was just floored with how freakin’ amazing they are. And that wasn’t even like their own tour.

Craig: Yeah, they’re just amazing!

Now in regards to releasing singles as opposed to albums, do you think it’s because right now generation-wise, or even just society-wise, that we can’t really sit and process a full album at one time and that’s why we need to do the singles to gear us up beforehand?

Craig: Here’s what I think about that: if people can still read books then people can still listen to records. I think with the way we are now used to consuming music, technology has finally caught up to what we want out of music. When you listened to the radio when you were a kid, that was the only thing that this generation had. You found the type of music that you liked, and then whatever that was you would just listen to that and that would be your station. You’d be like, ‘Oh, I kinda like that one, but this right here is my thing’ What are Spotify playlists really? It’s just the technology caught up to what we wanted just like when radio caught up to what we wanted back then, but they had to pay for it with advertising. Now you can just pay the radio directly and they won’t give you any advertising, which is Spotify and Pandora and Apple Music, however, we’re consuming it now. So based on that, yeah it makes a lot more sense to just put out a single because if you just do one single it can be added to that thing that people consume on the daily and then they can look you up when you’re in town. We’re not making money off of the recordings anyway, it’s just all one big advertisement to see them live. That’s really it. Even with 24 million streams equals a couple thousand bucks or something, that’s not paying the bills nor is it covering the money it took to even make the record so there’s no reason to really invest that much into a full album if just one song is going to get the people to come out and buy the t-shirts, you know? It makes more sense as a business if that’s the way to hit all the people at once.

Do you think the whole thing about people wanting to lean more towards streaming as opposed to turning on the car radio in turn with the social media aspect is making it harder for artists to break out to reach those new audiences?

Craig: It’s a double-edged sword because you’re segmenting the listener base. Here’s a good case in point, Greta Van Fleet just became an arena-sized band. You would think overnight is about a year to a year and a half-ish, but they’re riding a great wave that Wolfmother didn’t get about eight years ago. Wolfmother sounds like Led Zeppelin, like Zeppelin 2. These new guys sound like Led Zeppelin 1, perfect timing, because now you’re going to have all of the people jumping onto the classic rock sound and adding them to their playlists. Through that, you’ll find those artists who have been more or less disenfranchised by the lack of that sound in a mainstream consumption. It’s there, but people are lazy. *laughs* If we could just find something that is close enough we’re totally happy with it. If you hear a Greta Van Fleet song and you’re like, ‘Oh my God this is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard! I love them! This is my new favorite band!’ the good news is that you can dig into that by going down the rabbit hole and finding their earlier work and following them on whatever. The opportunity for fandom is never bigger, but again, there’s that over-saturation still. So the more prepared you are as an artist to offer a platform for people to connect with, the better shot you’re going to have at developing a community or a fan base. I would call it more of a community because these are people that not only subscribe to your social media but also subscribe to your message, you style your vibe, all that.

Yeah! I mean, even when Weezer came out with the cover of “Africa”…

Craig: Oh God, so many thoughts! *laughs*

…their fans were being super awesome and actually going to support Toto. And then Toto went on record to discuss all of that and how much they appreciated it.

Craig: Oh it’s a beautiful thing. I think that was a great relationship that they formed, but I’m telling you, they had to have planned that one! *both laugh* Like, Toto is on the road at the same time as Weezer? Come on! Toto doesn’t go on the road that much anymore! *laughs* I mean, PR stunt or not, it was just great because everyone got to talking about it and a lot of people got to go see Toto live on stage again. They’re amazing by the way. *laughs*

We were able to support both bands! The Toto fans were supporting Weezer and Weezer fans supporting Toto, it’s just awesome!

Craig: I really hope there are more crossovers like that!

I love it too! I think it’s a great idea and it’s giving a chance to bring the old and new together! Well, in Weezer’s case new-ish because they’ve been around for a long time too. *both laugh* We’ll have to wait for the next Weezer for us to say ‘old and new.’ *laughs*

Craig: Aww man, who’s the next Weezer? *laughs* There’s just so many thoughts on “Africa.” *both laugh* Weezer also did “Rosanna” and I was just like, ‘Come on guys, you’re not Toto.’ *laughs* But I saw a little blurb from the Toto guys when they did their KROQ interview and they were just like,’ Yeah, we give them a B+ on that one.’ It was a valiant effort for sure though. *laughs*

So kind of staying on the topic of covers, you guys do a bunch of covers on your YouTube channel. If you could so like a five-song EP of just covers, which songs would you choose?

Craig: Nothing of which that we’ve already put online that’s for sure. *laughs* Sometimes I play little gigs at some breweries and such, and usually what happens is I’m going to play a bunch of stuff that I already know and then, depending on who’s there, half the night might be a bunch of songs I’ve never played before. They’ll yell out the songs to me, I’ll look it up on my phone, and then I’ll start playing it. *laughs*

On the spot covers! *laughs*

Craig: That is correct! *laughs* I do this quite often at a lot of different places, and it’s so much fun because you discover the song that you didn’t realize was that great and you discover songs that you really want to do. But as I’m sitting here right now, let’s see, five songs that I would want to record…this would be full band and full production right?

Is there any other way? *both laugh*

Craig: Ok so studio covers…man, that’s tough! I’m going to have to go with one of my favorite songs in the entire world ever, “Man In The Mirror,” with a full choir, 250 piece, and strings, trumpets a sousaphone and a harpist. *laughs*

The whole works! *laughs*

Craig: Of course! *laughs* Let’s see, what else? Ugh, there’s just so many great songs out there in the world! Ok, what’s the song that I’m obsessed with right now? All of them! *both laugh* Gosh, you tell me! Is there a song that you think should be covered, like, really loudly that has never been covered?

I mean, I think my life would be complete if you did a three-part version of “Africa” with Weezer and Toto!

Craig: *laughs* We’re just gonna put our hat in the ring?

Why not! The more people involved the better it’ll be! *both laugh*

Craig: Then there would be 100 “Africa” covers! *laughs* And then we’ll actually take a show toAfrica with all three bands so we’ll play “Africa” in Africa for Africa, like, the ticket sales will go to whatever charity that benefits the area, and it’ll be huge!

It’ll be an Africa-ception! *both laugh*

Craig: I really like this idea! Ok, so we’re going to record “Africa!” *laughs* But gosh, I have no idea for the other ones! Even for live shows I’ll ask Nick or Oliver to just pick a song that they love at the moment and we’ll just plug it into the set, like, we’ll throw it in the middle of a song or in between songs or whatever. When either of them pick you just never know what you’re gonna get. *laughs*

Song roulette!

Craig: Right!? *laughs* You just never know what they were listening to in the car and sometimes I’ll just be like, ‘Alright, pick something right now!’ We’ve done so many different things live as a three-piece. At one point we did “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin, so after you do that live you just don’t have any fear in you anymore. *laughs* It’s like, ‘Come on! Lay it on me! Let’s go! We’ll give it an honest effort!’ *laughs* But man, I really want to pick five songs for ya!

We’ll shorten it down to three, so just one more song.

Craig: Well “Africa” and then “Africa”…*laughs* But I also want to do “Man In The Mirror” so I’m going to find something that’s on the opposite end of things.

So something between “Africa” and “Man In The Mirror?” *both laugh*

Craig: Actually, those have a two degree of separation because “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson was written by Steve Porcaro from Toto, so I’ve got to go really far in the other direction. Let’s go with doing a three-piece version of Rammstein. Let’s see if we can do an acoustic, downtrodden three-piece harmony version of “Du Hast,” like, that’s actually sad and not aggressive.

But aggression is a form of sadness. *laughs*

Craig: Oh yeah, but we’ll take all the angst out of it and just make it sad. *laughs*

Just turn it into a hardcore emo song. *laughs*

Craig: Exactly! *laughs* We’ll turn it into a ballad. But again, full production, so back to the strings. Oooh! A string quartet and just three voices! It’d be beautiful! *laughs*

A good mix of songs.

Craig: Yeah!

And kind of going along the lines of YouTube and social media in general, do you think both of them are huge power players as to how musicians are discovered now?

Craig: Yes, because busking is just not doing the job anymore. If everything lives online and on YouTube and Facebook and Instagram, then that’s where you should probably be ‘busking.’ Listeners aren’t walking the streets right now, they’re consuming the media online, so if you want to meet them where you now have that option. If you want to busk on the streets you have that option too, but what it really comes down to is the audience and how they’re taking it in. I feel like I’m about 200 cover songs late on the YouTube channel front because there should already be like 300 or 400 cover songs. That’s the thing when I play those little gigs, I do four hours worth of songs so two of those hours would probably be covers and they should be uploaded in sections on YouTube. And they’d be like, ‘Wow, he’s so cool!’ *laughs*

Oh yeah! And going along the line of live performances and meeting people in person as opposed to doing everything online, you guys are one of the few bands that still goes out to shows that fliers.

Craig: Hell yeah we do!

Do you think that in-person interactions are a better way to market yourself than just completely doing everything digitally?

Craig: Yes! Online everyone else is also there…all of them…everybody. In the parking lot of a concert, it’s just me and you and we’re actually talking to each other as opposed to just clicking the ‘X’ on the tab. I’m not a tab, there’s no ‘X.’ *laughs* There’s just something completely different when you connect with people in person, there’s a beauty to it, and whether or not my music is your cup of tea at all, I would still have a cup of tea with ya. *laughs* That’s just the kind of person I am. Even if you’re not really a music fan you can still support the effort because I was going to be there anyway so thank you for taking to me., you could have easily just gone to your car. *laughs* I mean, you probably should, but in the meantime would you like a sticker?

Everyone loves stickers!

Craig: Yes! Especially the ones on recycled paper! *laughs*

No killing trees!

Craig: Never! *laughs*

So if you could go on your own world tour and take three artists with you, who would they be and what would you name your tour?

Craig: Living or dead?

Whatever your little heart desires!

Craig: Ooooooh man! *laughs* I would take AC/DC, who would play the entirety of Highway to Hell. I would take Belinda Carlisle, who would play “Heaven Is A Place On Earth.”

For an hour right?

Craig: Yup, for an hour. *both laugh* And I would call it the ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ Tour. *laughs*

Which artists and bands have influenced your sound and style?

Craig: Dang, this always changes for me. My dad made me listen to The Eagles, and that’s about it. My mom made me listen to The Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Michael Bolton, Barbra Streisand, and adult contemporary music. When I was a kid, we would put on the local Detroit version of ‘Love Songs on the Coast’ station and I would sleep to that. Anything that David Foster did in the early 90s is ingrained in my subconscious. *both laugh* AC/DC was my first love as soon as I was able to have music for myself. Motown is in my blood from Detroit. Butch Walker changed what I knew about songwriting and live performance when I was like 16-ish, so that was a big one. And then everything is is just how great that song is right now, like, I can hear a great song that came out last week and it would hit me just as hard as an instrumental from the twenties. If it’s great, it’ll hit me hard. Nick brings a lot of hip-hop, he’s obsessed with Run The Jewels and Less Than Jake. *laughs*

The polar opposite spectrum! *laughs*

Craig: Yeah. *laughs* Oliver’s range is Rage Against The Machine and a lot of classic rock. He also has a jazz degree, but he loves The Who and RX Bandits and Radiohead. Everyone’s taste kind of just bounces around, so I guess our pre-requisite in terms of style hopefully shines in the different songs because we’re just three people making the noise that we’re handed. Like, this instrument is going to make this noise. Now if all of us had keyboards, we’d be a completely different band. *laughs*

Then you would just be The Piano Guys with an extra member. *both laugh*

Craig: Nah, we’d do dreamy synths and stuff. *laughs* No percussion! That would be a weird band. *both laugh* But this is what we sound like right now and it’s as loud as it can get with three people. It’s a chemistry that works, and everyone can bring a different style to the table. I could be playing something that I think sounds like Jackie Wilson, and Nick would come in saying he thinks it sounds like Big Pun. He’s going to do things instinctively on the bass that he hears in that. The same goes for Oliver, who might start doing an Underoath beat. Who knows! *laughs* Eventually it’ll turn into something that we’re all stoked on and want to play for a while.

And what do you hope your audience away from your music?

Craig: I just want people to connect with the vibe of our music. Lyrics are really subjective sometimes…

Unfortunately.

Craig: Yeah. They’re really subjective, so there’s no way you’re going to know anything about the story that I’m writing because it happened to me. However, I can at least talk about it from a first-person perspective. Maybe a similar thing happened to you. If you find at least one line that does that for you, mission accomplished. If it’s a piece of a chorus that you hear in someone’s car at a red light and you tap your foot for a half second, mission accomplished. I think music is meant to be taken in and enjoyed because it really is one of the best things about the human experience. It really is, and it’s definitely more important than anything else for me. If I can get people to have even a little bit of that, mission accomplished.

Absolutely! So to end us off what big plans should we be expecting from you in the near future?

Craig: We already recorded a new single, so before the end of the year I want to get it out. We’re currently working on the lyric video for it and then the official video will come after. Like anything else in this stinking business, you have to schedule everything out. It’s a lot of work, but it’ll definitely happen before the end of the year. The LP has been out for a year so I think that’s long enough to wait. *laughs* And we’ve had this recorded for a few months now, but this great local boutique label helped us put it out and did the press for us and all that, so we owed them a year of not doing anything just so we could do everything that we can for eleven songs. But I think we’re going to be doing the singles game for a little bit because I want to hit the road a few more times so the three of us can have another full set of skill under our belt together. Then I want to do an EP of 3-5 songs, but that’ll come after the New Year. The goal is to be up in the Pacific Northwest by January, which is a terrible time to go, *laugh* and then hit up Vancouver. Haven’t been yet, but I think it’ll just be rad.

Well, we’re all excited for new music and hope that you don’t freeze your butts off up North. *laughs*

There’s a reason why the Friends‘ favorite spot was the Central Perk and I can happliy say that Long Beach’s Viento Y Agua gives me those sames vibes. Home-y wood and brick paired with bright colored walls give the atmosphere an extra bit of spice than your standard shop while local artwork from paintings to sculptures really pull the interior design together. Apart from tangible art, they also hold regular open mic and belly dancing nights, singer-songwriter showcases, and light live music during the daytime (at least on the morning we were there).

A copious amount of seating options allow for coffee date-ers, sit and read the morning newspaper-ers, board game-ers, and everyone in-between to stop in for something yummy to eat and drink offered up by their cheery staff. As the Mexican Mocha was raved about all through Yelp of course I needed to order it. I say this in the most serious way possible, the Mexican Mocha tastes like all of the warm and fuzzy things that bring you joy. GET IT! Viento Y Agua really is a great spot for Long Beach locals and visitors like myself to feel a strong community aspect as well as getting a great cup of coffee, thanks for having us!